HOMILY FOR TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER. (1)
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER.
THEME: THE TRUE VALUE OF THE CROSS.
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas.
St. Michael the Archangel Parish
Diocese of Novaliches.
Jn 20:11-18
Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where
HOMILY FOR TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER.
THEME: THE TRUE VALUE OF THE CROSS.
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas.
St. Michael the Archangel Parish
Diocese of Novaliches.
Jn 20:11-18
Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.
The tomb of Jesus was in a garden (Jn 19:41). This must be the reason why Mary Magdalene assumed that the man in front of her was the gardener. But on a deeper level, it is a reminder of another garden, the Garden of Eden, the site of the sin of our first parents, the source of all the world’s pains and sufferings. And now it is also in a garden that new life begins through the resurrection of the Lord.
Then Jesus calls out her name: “Mary!” Jesus did not need to say anything else to her; just her name. Immediately she recognizes His voice, the voice of her Master. Indeed, she was a true disciple of the Lord, the Good Shepherd: “The sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name… the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice” (John 10:3-4).
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Her response was spontaneous and certain: “Rabbouni!” It was a response, not only of recognition, but also of unquestioning faith and firm conviction: It is Jesus Himself! No doubt about it.
The interesting question here is why Mary did not immediately recognize the Lord. The Gospel says that she was weeping. She was overcome with grief. We know by experience that when a person is in this condition, his senses can be clouded. Perhaps her copious tears and despondent spirit must have obscured her vision.
But aside from that, Mary did not recognize the Lord because she had a mistaken expectation. That is why Jesus asked her, “What are you looking for?” It was clear to the Lord that she was expecting a corpse in the tomb, she was looking for a dead Lord. For her, the tomb was still the place of death and sorrow. She was not expecting life in the midst of death. She has not yet fully grasped the meaning of the Lord’s teaching: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12:24).
This is a very important lesson for us, especially that we are still in this “ valley of tears”. The resurrection of Jesus is telling us of the true value of the cross. In the midst of sorrow and pain, there is joy. In the midst of defeat, there is victory. Truly, the cross is our way to victory and glory. This can only be possible if we remain faithful in following the Lord on His way to Calvary and rejoice in the victory of His resurrection.
Needless to say, conversion is essential in this regard. This is illustrated in the case of Mary Magdalene. The Gospel says, “She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” It is an interior turning from benightedness to recognition, from gloom to joy, from doubt to faith, from loss and detachment to recovery and intimacy.
The lesson of today is a call to this same conversion of heart and mind. The resurrection of Jesus should inspire us to take a different perspective towards life, in view of our ultimate destiny as God’s children. Such is the Apostle Paul’s appeal to “put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Eph 4:22-24).
Fr. Mike Lagrimas
St. Michael the Archangel Parish
Diocese of Novaliches.
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